Chapter 3173

"That nun of yours, is she at the Thirteenth Tier?"

Sister Belen asked softly with her head bowed, while Xia De shook his head:

"No, she is not a demon. I mean, she is only at the Twelfth Tier, though she says she is about to advance to the Thirteenth. I recognized at a glance just now that you are a Fire-Holding Nun; the mithril eye mask passed down by the Ancient Death Sect continues to be handed down among Fire-Holding Nuns even in the era I live in... even your style of dress is very similar."

Xia De wanted to express that the heritage of the "Fire-Holding Nuns" had never been broken, but Sister Belen had no reaction to his answer, simply continuing to follow Xia De forward with her head bowed.

Having already seen Miss Liyade's tombstone, the two walked in the opposite direction this time to avoid wasting time by retracing their steps. The tombstones in this direction were slightly sparser than in the previous one, but this was not a bad thing, as it allowed them to walk a bit faster.

Xia De was actually interested in the short candles on the tombstones that seemed as if they would never change, as well as the dilapidated kerosene lamps in front of a few tombstones. These scattered flames were so intriguing in this wilderness, but his instincts told him it was best not to touch these fires that did not belong to him.

Sister Belen continued to ask:

"May I ask, how did your nun meet you? Or did you seek her out for the sake of power?"

Thinking of the past events in Mid-Hill Fort, Xia De, while scanning the surrounding tombstones, could not help but reveal a smile:

"That was many years ago. I was not mature at the time, and I went to the city where she was located to rescue a missing friend, and then I met her. Come to think of it, she was the one who calculated me. When I was severely injured and unable to move, she knelt beside me holding the fire, trembling as she begged me to accept the power of the flame.

No, I am not complaining about my nun, I just feel it is still very interesting when I think back on what happened then."

Sister Daifulin was undoubtedly a very upright lady, but she was different from the version of her Xia De knew when it came to that specific matter.

Sister Belen, listening to the story from the side, actually expressed agreement in a soft voice:

"For her to do that, any Fire-Holding Nun would understand."

"Hmm..."

"Mortals capable of containing the power of the First Fire are extremely rare, and those among them who can fully bear the power of the First Fire, or even help nuns perceive the power of the First Fire, are even rarer. Although there are Fire-Holding Nuns in every generation, we do not necessarily have the talent you possess.

I do not know what changes will occur in the future, but at least according to the history I understand, it is quite normal for only one person to encounter a suitable candidate for bearing the fire among dozens of generations of nuns."

Sister Daifulin had also mentioned before that "Fire-Bearers" were even rarer than "Fire-Holders" like them. All the collections of the 【Spirit Cultivation Sect】 were open to Xia De, and when Xia De searched for information on the First Fire, he had never seen anything about other "Fire-Bearers," so the appearance of the previous Fire-Bearer must have been a very long time ago, even before the era of the Outsider's arrival.

"My nun said that those who bear the flame must not only have the talent to accept the First Fire, but must also be destined heroes themselves. So, once a person like me appears, it must mean that the world is about to undergo changes."

Xia De continued to look at the surrounding tombstones, and because of this, he learned that fish bones really could choke a person to death, that domestic violence existed between witches, and that there really were people who could suffocate to death because they forgot to breathe.

However, he felt that the fog at this moment was a bit thicker than when he was returning with Theresa earlier:

"So for the sake of this world, it is better if Fire-Bearers do not appear."

"Others might think so, but I think only the Fire-Holding Nuns would not... Every generation of nuns is waiting."

Sister Belen said softly. Xia De did not understand what this meant at first and asked somewhat naively—only afterward did he feel his own "naivety":

"Then, Sister Belen, have you found a suitable Fire-Bearer in this era?"

The black-haired nun bowed her head and said nothing. Xia De suddenly felt the atmosphere become awkward. Although he had spoken without thinking just now because he was reading tombstone information while talking, he immediately understood the current situation.

Thus, after arriving in this world, it was rare for him to actually feel a bit grateful that an accident occurred at this moment.

Boom!

A loud noise came, and a black shadow flying out from the side directly knocked Xia De away from his original spot. But before the Twelfth Tier nun could act, brilliant moonlight illuminated the surrounding darkness in an instant, and the winged ghoul that had taken flight was split into two in mid-air by that cold, silver wheel of light.

The corpse of the winged ghoul fell between the tombstones with a thud. Xia De rolled to his feet and quickly reunited with Sister Belen, who was walking over quickly. The two stood back-to-back, listening to the rustling sounds constantly coming from the thicket of tombstones around them.

Pairs of green eyes opened in the dark, thick fog. Xia De and the nun had not sensed any enemies around them the moment before the attack occurred; these ghouls seemed to have appeared out of thin air.

"Is it because the space of the Tombstone Wilderness is changing that they appeared? It's not that they appeared out of thin air, it's that the nun and I appeared out of thin air."

This was not the time to think about such things. Xia De did not need to worry about ordinary ghouls at all, but in this eerie world where life and death were intertwined, no one knew what strange abilities these things might have.

His right hand drew a magnificent greatsword shimmering with silver moonlight from the air. Before waiting for the surrounding ghouls to make their next move, he tried his best to look behind him with his peripheral vision, but he did not sense the familiar whispers of elements:

"Sister Belen, are you not going to draw the 'Ash' greatsword?"

That greatsword was born with the 【Primal Fire】, and as long as the flame still existed, it certainly still existed.

"I have encountered some problems myself, and that sword cannot be drawn in this wilderness for the time being."

The nun's voice was still full of ethereal quality:

"Please do not worry about me, let us defeat these remnants of malicious death first."

There were small clusters of mist in front of her mouth as she spoke. Her voice had just fallen when the group of ghouls that had already completed their encirclement of the two launched a pounce from the tombstone thicket toward the pair standing back-to-back.

At this moment, at least twenty ghouls took flight, but a golden shield enveloped Xia De and Sister Belen. The moment the first ghoul touched the "Xidun Seal," the golden light burst, and amidst a sound similar to shattering glass, the pouncing ghouls were blasted outward by the light of the sun.

"Moonlight Wheel!"

The silver wheel of light thrown by Xia De's empty left hand drew a beautiful arc in the dark fog, following the blasted undead and circling around to slice them apart.

And Sister Belen behind him simply chanted a spell, and more than ten fireballs the size of fists appeared above their heads, then turned into meteors one after another, smashing into the ghouls lurking in the darkness.

To avoid disturbing the surroundings, three silence charms had already been thrown around, so all of this was carried out in silence.

At the same time, the winged ghouls flew to the high darkness, attempting to attack from the air. Xia De did not remember ghouls being able to cast spells, but each of them could spit black pus mixed with toxins and death energy through a method similar to vomiting. The nature of that pus was similar to "human pus," but it was clearly far inferior to true demonic power.

And those alienated ghouls whose skin color was like thick ink were not only larger in size, but also knew how to lurk in the darkness, attempting to launch sneak attacks from the ground. They had mastered the ability to blend into the shadows, moving silently while crawling between the tombstones, but fortunately, the light of the First Fire was enough to force them out.

"Although they are all mutated undead, they don't seem particularly strong."

Xia De thought to himself, while the nun behind him reminded him softly:

"Although charms have been used, do not use strange arts or secret methods that will create too much noise, and do not use abilities that will produce huge amounts of light. Try to avoid damaging these tombstones."

"Understood."

Pitch-black chains slid out from the cuff of his left hand, rustling as they fell to the ground and then darted toward the surrounding tombstones like agile snakes. While the nun manipulated fire to attack the enemies on the ground, Xia De continuously used the "Xidun Seal" to intercept the spit from the undead in the air, while the 【Chain of Sin】 circled the two of them completely and tied up most of the surrounding tombstones one by one:

"That's about it—Moonlight Thorns!"

Although this still did not constitute a strictly enclosed space, when Xia De stabbed his greatsword into the ground, rustling holy silver moonlight thorns still grew out, clinging to the chains. The ghouls in the darkness that were attempting to continue approaching the thorn bush immediately retreated as if they had been burned, hiding once again between the tombstones.

The moonlight thorns protected them, and the enemies on the ground could be ignored for the time being. The two, now with their hands free, immediately went to engage the winged undead in the air.

Although the "Tombstone Wilderness" did not forbid flying, they did not fly up directly out of safety considerations. Silver wheels of light and bead-like fireballs continuously flew into the air, and mangled corpses and charred corpses fell one after another. After losing more than half their numbers, the group of winged ghouls finally scattered and left.

At this time, he wanted to deal with the ghouls on the ground, but even after the "Moonlight Thorns" disappeared, not a single undead rushed toward the two first.

Standing back-to-back and confronting those terrifying things for a while longer, Xia De tried to raise the 【Moonlight Greatsword】 to take the initiative, but he had only run two steps when the undead on the ground also turned and disappeared into the darkness.

"Are these really ghouls?"

Except for their appearance, the characteristics of these things were completely different from what Xia De knew. Although Sister Belen had arrived earlier, she could not clearly explain what changes had occurred to the undead in this wilderness.

However, the good news was that when Xia De wanted to check the corpses of those ghouls, although he was surprised to find that all the corpses were gone, he discovered a gold denture on the side of the tombstone of some unlucky fellow who had choked to death on bird droppings while laughing at the sky during the search process.

(End of chapter)